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MonkeyTalk Tests iOS/Android Apps In The Mobile Jungle

By Adrian Bridgwater, March 08, 2012

Open source testing platform for testing native and hybrid applications on iOS and Android

Gorilla Logic has released its MonkeyTalk cross-platform iOS/Android functional record/playback functional testing platform. The new release combines with the company's existing FoneMonkey for iOS and FoneMonkey for Android open source tools, as well as the newly released Continuous QA in the Cloud service offering.

Pointing to the obvious growth of mobile across the US and elsewhere, IDC analyst Rona Shuchat suggests that companies are accelerating their demand for third-party mobile application testing tools and services. "With Gorilla Logic's new Continuous QA Cloud offering, QA professionals can automate the testing of mobile apps across multiple devices and simulators (in any combination) to meet the increasing demand for highly usable and high-performing mobile apps."

Perhaps not quite the first "comprehensive solution for mobile application testing", MonkeyTalk does carve something of a niche for itself by being able to test native and hybrid applications for both iOS and Android mobile platforms. Using its own keyword-driven MonkeyTalk Command Language for specifying functional tests, MonkeyTalk records, plays back, and validates any user interaction on simulators or devices as well as any gesture on any component.

MonkeyTalk can be generated automatically through recording or can be composed from scratch with the MonkeyTalk IDE or with a text editor. In addition, testers and QA professionals can extend MonkeyTalk with their own application-specific commands. Plus, MonkeyTalk's JavaScript API allows tests to freely mix JavaScript and MonkeyTalk for what should be "enhanced" levels of control.

We've immersed ourselves in the functional testing tools space for four years with thousands of teams using FlexMonkey and FoneMonkey, so we were able to step back and redesign with a focus on how people work in the real world," said Edward Schwarz, vice president of engineering and cofounder of Gorilla Logic. "The MonkeyTalk command language, as well as comprehensive support for JavaScript-based test scripting, are examples of listening to QA pros talk about what they need to really drive value."

So then, key features of MonkeyTalk include data-driven functional testing for iOS and Android; recording and playback of user interface interactions; the ability to generate readable, maintainable scripts, as well as supporting easy creation of scripts from scratch; and the option to automatically convert scripts to JavaScript, which can be extended with custom logic — as well as the ability to run in continuous integration environments.

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